Hi team! I am trying to finish up my project report I was hoping that perhaps if you had a few minutes you could provide me with some thoughts. I would be interested to get your feedback on your experiences with Twitter and Blogging thus far. More specifically, when it comes to professional development, does the use of Twitter and Blogs benefit you? Do you feel a sense of connection? Any comments you leave are appreciated. If I use some of the comments in my paper, names will not be used. Thanks
Brian
8 comments:
Personally, I have enjoyed using twitter. I use it as sort of a news feed. However I do not find that it has helped me professionally so far. I do not like that tweets can only be a couple of sentences; it's very limiting. Also if I am looking for resources, I am the type of person to go and find it myself on the internet.
-Dylan
This is where blogging comes in; I find that blogging is much more beneficial. I have come across a number of interesting blogs (from classmates as well as others) that provide me with a number of great resources.
I won't completely rule out twitter yet, probably require more of an effort on my part.
I feel like it has been beneficial to see what is out there in the social media world and all the positive that it has in education. But I am still not fully on board with it because I am old fashion and swore I would never get twitter. It is interesting to see how it is used in many different ways. I was determined to delete it after our class but I may keep it now just to keep connections open and there if I need them. I do not hate twitter anymore now that I have explored and learned how it can be a positive aspect to education. I have gotten many ideas and resources from other people sharing.
I agree with Dylan about blogging, it is way more beneficial. I am not a fan of blogging but I have found many teacher and classroom blogs that have great ideas and ways to communicate with families of students.
My previous goals have been to stay away from social media but I dont think that can happen as a future educator because technology is all around us and can be used in positive ways.
-Christina
I have really enjoyed the social media aspect of our EPE class this semester. It's very likely that many of us spend too much time on facebook that really has no purpose or educational benefit. I find that having our blogs and twitter is an awesome way to keep updated on useful information that is applicable to our profession.
Personally, I enjoy blogging because I have always loved writing . I find that reading others blogs also helps me to make sense of a lot of the topics we talk about in class. It's nice to ask questions and share comments with each other.
As for twitter, I am still unsure. I find that it has some really great benefits when people post interesting links. However, I don't always have things that I find necessary to tweet. I see how twitter can be useful for educators who want to share information. Currently, I don't have resources I want to tweet to the world, but maybe someday I will!
Overall, I really like blogging, and just need to work on the whole twitter thing!
- Jenny Porter
Okay so I was thinking how much I enjoyed the technology and social media portion of this class and even commented on that and then it lost my comment....hmmmm!
Well ok I still enjoyed it. The twitter does not seem as beneficial but none the less we did all step out of our comfort zone and gave it a try anyways. At least when we make the decision to either stay or go after this class is complete we will be making an informed decision. I myself have been able to keep intouch with a couple educator friends from other parts of the province and have enjoyed that and the sharing of resources.
As for the blogging I personally have really enjoyed it and think it has been a good extension of our class time. I think we have had some good conversations, sharing of ideas and opinions and continued to build on community. Although our class spends a lot of time together I think we have done a pretty good job of building community so far. I do see how the extention to the classroom is helpful though as we would never have enough time to have all these conversations in class. I do think that many would have an easier time if they were not feeling restricted in what the content or format of their blog should be and it was not tied to a mark. I believe often we get so caught up in how things are being assessed we forget to just be creative and enjoy the experience. I have learned from this though and will not use blogging as a form of assessment in my classroom but rather as an electronic bulletin board. Not all parents are able to stop in at the school to observe what is going on and some of the work proudly displayed so I think a blog is a wonderful way for the families to still feel connected to what their children are doing at school. What better thing then to have your child come home from school to login to their blog and show you their work proudly pinned to the blog? (I realize not allchildren have this access to technology and so I would still encourage visits to the classroom when possible and show parents the blog at parent/teacher conferences)
Thanks for the learning experience!!
Lana
I have been following many teacher-created blogs for a while now and they can be WONDERFUL places for resources, ideas and collaboration! I am actually following too many to keep up with, so I know I am sad to know that I am missing out on great things.
As far as EPE310 goes - our blogs are not there yet, but I also think it is because we are:
a) new to it
b) busy
c) limited to mainly discussing only Phys Ed.
Also, I assume because we are all busy (or in my mind hope this is the reason and it is not a catty, personal reason)I do not get a lot of page hits or comments which can be discouraging when I am just as busy but am finding the time to both blog as well as comment on everyone else's ideas and thoughts.
As far as Twitter, I think it can be a good professional tool if you are following the right people or #hashtag. However, depending on who you follow it can be just as big of a time suck as Facebook because some people are #hashtagging things that do not relate to the actual #hashtag topic you are following for informational purposes.
I also find that which other professional hashtags I follow such as #pegeeks or #elemchat there are too many tweets to even keep up with or check out so I find I do not go back and even bother looking most days.
I get most of my information and resources on Twitter from more professional accounts (@inmotionSK) or professional minded-people (@gymovers, @Physed_Pomeroy). If you are selective about whom you follow and what #hashtags you follow Twitter can be a benefit to professional development.
I generally like blogging, but am finding the epe blogging very restricting. I think I would be getting more out of my blogging experience, and more from reading the blogs of my colleagues, if we were able to talk about other subject areas and other thoughts and feelings about PE without it needing to be specific to curriculum.
I think blogs are a very powerful tool to share ideas, lesson plans, creative projects and more with other teachers. I have gained many great ideas and resources from reading other "teacher blogs".
I understand how twitter can be a great way to connect and use hashtags to find topics and even participate in organized discussions by following a specific hashtag. I think it is something that takes time to develop an appropriate network of contacts and I am not sure that I am there yet. I am trying to add some people that are pe specific as well as ed tech and general elementary education, but it's a struggle to find the right people. It's a process. I am also struggling with the proper hashtags to use for specific topics. I know #pegeeks and #physed and #edtech for educational technology, but I don't know how to find or use tags for other subject areas or for general educational updates.
Since educators like to share ideas and information Twitter is great for making professional contacts-already have made a couple of contacts outside of class. It's exciting to see what's out there and how it can be used to bring teaching to a whole other level. Although learning to use WordPress or Blogger is a bit of a struggle. The struggle is worth it because I can see how it can help me develop my professional identity and establish myself in the field.
Personally I found blogging alot more beneficial, as it was a time for reflection. It helped with personal/professional development. Twitter I found to be not so beneficial as it was a place where alot of side conversations about nothing occured. I can see though how it can be beneficial if used properly.
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